Selinger dodges NDP turmoil questions at Remembrance Day service

Manitoba's embattled premier made his first public appearance since five of his top cabinet ministers resigned last week, but Greg Selinger refused to comment on the ongoing turmoil within his party.

Selinger attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the RBC Convention Centre on Tuesday morning.

After the service, reporters tried to ask him about the ongoing situation involving the NDP, in which some members are questioning his leadership in the face of low ratings in opinion polls.

"Anything related to party matters will be at a separate time; not right now," he said.

"This is not an appropriate venue to do that. This is a day of remembrance for Remembrance Day, and I would ask that you all respect that. Thank you."

Tuesday marked the first time Selinger was in public since he shuffled his cabinet on Nov. 3, following the resignations of five high-profile MLAs from his inner circle.

• Selinger replaces 5 cabinet ministers in government revolt
• ANALYSIS | How Manitoba's governing NDP split open and where it goes from here
• OPINION | It takes followers as well as leaders to create a crisis

The premier has not agreed to an interview with CBC News since the cabinet shuffle, despite daily requests for comment.

Over the weekend, Selinger invited the NDP to hold a leadership review at the party's spring convention, and then he issued a statement saying he's ready to show why he was elected leader in the first place.

• NDP brass to hold emergency meeting after 'misunderstanding' with Selinger
• ​OPINION | Disarray in the NDP: what should happen next?

"It's time to put this question of leadership into a democratic arena where I'm ready, willing and able to show why I was elected leader of the party by our members and elected Premier by Manitoba voters," he wrote in the statement, which was issued Monday afternoon.